ABOUT US

In 2000, a group of passionate community workers came together. They shared a similar dream...a strong and thriving civil society in South Africa. The country had reached its 5^th year of democracy and the Reconstruction and Development Programme, which had shown so much promise, had largely lost momentum. Many community workers had led the liberation movement and sustained the basic fabric of community life during apartheid. However, into democracy, their contributions have been underappreciated or even disregarded and their roles have been defined largely as participants in pre-defined programmes.

With this backdrop, the group of community workers developed a pilot which aimed to strengthen and capacitate civil society by supporting community-led development and addressing the isolation of CBOs and community workers. This pilot turned out to be of great value for community workers... and Community Connections was established.

We believe that a strengthened democracy, participatory governance, transformation and a just society will only be realised in South Africa when communities lead their development and civil society has a strong voice to balance government.  As such, we are committed to supporting and strengthening civil society and organisations at the grassroots level in a sustainable way.

We have  maintained a close connection with the community, with our personnel, in our work, and in our mentality.  This connectedness to the community has allowed us to stay relevant to the communities and allowed us to respond in unique and appropriate ways.

Community Connections is a registered non-profit organisation based in Philippi, Cape Town (Reg. No: 020-469-NPO).